Into The Light
by CNJ
Summary: Crossover BSC & Fab 5: Liza Barry & Claudia Kishi are about to start their 3rd year of college. They come home to Minnesota to discover something off-kilter at Granite U. Also, their roomie's Iraqi friend is struggling to escape an arranged marriage.
1. Back Home Again

Hi, all BSC and Fab Five fans! This story is a crossover of BSC/Fabulous Five. In this one, Liza Barry from the former Fabulous Five (who used to be Beth) is just beginning her third year of college at Granite U. in Minnesota along with the BSC's Claudia Kishi. I have the former Fab Five and the BSC be the same age. Just a disclaimer that all characters and group or town names either Fab Five fans or BSC fans recognize from any of the books are not mine neither is the name _Fabulous Five_; they are solely the creation of two great authors Betsy Haynes and Ann Martin; no cash is being made off it nor any fame. The name Five R Us is however my creation and has been copyrighted. Enjoy, all fans from both series!   


**Into The Light**

By: CNJ 

_PG-13_

**1: Back Home Again**

  


**Liza**: 

"Home, sweet twin city home!" I crowed as Claudia Kishi and I finally got off the plane and headed out of the airport, looking for a cab. After six wonderful weeks in Europe with my friends, Katie Shannon, Christie Winchell, Dekeisha Adams, and Whitney Larkin, it felt good to be back home in Minnesota. It was a rather muggy August day and classes would be starting again at Granite U. for another month. My friends and I would be starting our third year in college this fall.   
"Yeah, home again," Claudia agreed. She's another friend of mine, who's a dormmate. She'd gone to Stoneybrook High while I'd gone to Burkeview High and we briefly met in high school while we were growing up in Connecticut. This summer, after I'd gotten back from Europe with my friends, also known as the Five R Us, we'd stopped in Bridgeport for the weekend to see our folks and siblings. It turned out Claudia had also been in nearby Stoneybrook visiting her folks and we lucked out on having the same flight back home together, so here we were. We finally got a cab and were on our way back to Granite U. in the outskirts of Minneapolis. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"I saw Kristy in Stoneybrook," Claudia told me as we rode back to Granite U. Claudia has a group of friends that made up the Baby-Sitters' Club in high school is Kristy Thomas is one of them.   
"Yeah...how's she been?" I asked.   
"Been doing all right. She was visiting her folks too. Her classes at Fellowdean start in early September too." Fellowdean U. is in New York City. Mona Vaughn and Mary Anne Spier, two of her other friends are also in New York City at nearby Staten U.   
"I have to e-mail my other friends, see how they got home," I told her as we pulled up on campus. Katie is at Georgetown U. in Washington, DC while Christie is at Aberdine in Vermont, which is the same college that Stacey McGill from the Baby-Sitters' Club or BSC for short goes to also. Dekeisha's at New York U. in the upstate campus while Whitney goes to MIT in Massachussetts along with Melissa McConnell. As soon as we pulled up into the parking lot and paid the driver, I noticed something a little fishy. Boxes were piled up outside by the bushes. Big trash day or something, I figured as Claudia and I unloaded our luggage. Claudia noticed too as the cab drove off. We slowly headed toward the door, carting our things behind us on a carrier. Just then, Carol Vyman came out, hauling a table with her.   
"Heyy, what's going on?" Claudia asked.   
"They're consolidating," Carol told us.   
"What?!" I gasped.   
"Van Gogh Hall was bought out to a private company and there's a battle about that, so all of us have to move into other dorms until they get it settled."   
"Oh, God..." I looked up at the three-story brick building, then at Carol, my eyes wide.   
"So we have a month to find other dorms or housing," Carol opened the hatchback of her car and shoved the table inside.   
  
  


More later! 


	2. The Great Housing Search

**Claudia**:

"...it's politics, I think," my roommate and friend Aya told me when Liza and I got upstairs. We were leaning on Aya's bed in our dorm room.   
"Well, what do you expect with that excuse in the White House?" Liza quipped. We all laughed a little at that. "Make the rich richer."   
"We have a month to find another place," I groaned, flopping on my bed.   
"I picked up the apartment ads in the paper today," Aya held up a copy of the _Twin City Gazette_. "Hey, if we play this smart, we might be able to pool our cash together for an apartment."   
"True..." Liza nodded. I work part-time at an art store, while Liza works in a used bookstore on Saturdays. Aya works at the campus bookstore. What we had to do now was measure our rents and our personal expenses with our combined incomes. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

E-mails back and forth between Liza and Katie on August 9, 2003: 

**Wmynpower@yahoo.com **to **Spiker@yahoo.com**:   
_ Heyy there, Liza! Glad we made it home all right! Any edible food on the way? What a trip to Italy; we have to do it again sometime! I'm happy that you were able to find your great-aunt; she did look a lot like you. Things have settled down here in the nation's capital and I start classes the first week in September. My roommate, Vivia and I went to Dupont Circle last weekend and went to that bookstore I've told you about. They've expanded on it even more. There's a copy of _Revolution From Within_ with Gloria Steinem's autograph on it! Of course I bought a copy. I'm working now on a part-time contracted job with the Department of Education. It's almost like working for the U.S. Government, but it's not a permanent job; they say it'll last a year or so. Two more years and we'll be college GRADUATES! Can you believe it??? I plan to go to law school as you know. Georgetown U. has one of the best law libraries in this country. Sooo, how are you settling back in Granite U? Weather turning cold yet in Minnesota? How are Claudia and Aya?_   
_Love, Katie_

**Spiker@yahoo.com** to **Wmynpower@yahoo.com**:   
_ Hey, Katie! Good hearing from you! Great as our trip to Europe was, it sure is great to be home again. It's still warm here in Minnesota. Claudia and Aya are doing all right; Claudia was in Connecticut visiting her 'rents also and we ran into each other at the airport and lucked out on the same flight, so we flew back together. When we got back, though, we discovered part of our dorm, Van Gogh Hall is being minioned out to some private industry group and we're all going to have to move out of there in a month, so Claud, Aya, and I have been scouring the apartment ads all week. We want to try our own apartment with us sharing maybe a two or three bedroom place since there's a long waiting list for dorms. This other friend of ours, Louisa is also looking for an apartment. Did I tell you about her? She's also into acting like me. This year Granite U is having a play on Eleanor Roosevelt and I'm definitely trying out. I'm debating between going for Eleanor's part (but I'd have to wear high heels to look tall like her since I'm only five-four) or going for the role of a friend of Eleanor's, Lorena Hickock. But until school starts, the four of us have to hustle to get a place. I know I want to be settled and unpacked by the time classes start again. Hey, I'm getting sleepy, so I'm turning in. I'll ee again really soon._   
_Love, Liza_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

**Liza**: 

"...with the one bath and two bedrooms...it's about thirteen hundred including utilities," the woman finished as Claudia, Aya, and I peered around the fourth potential apartment of the day. I nodded and took some more notes in my pad. We'd found a few leads...but none that would be IT yet.   
"Thirteen hundred's stretching it a bit," Claudia told us once we were back in the car. We were looking at places on the bus line since Granite U does have a shuttle bus system for students. The car we share is good, but we wanted to be near public transportation in case the car ever breaks down. We were also looking for something that wouldn't stretch our budget too tightly...something that left us money to save and something that didn't charge utilities separately. It also got us thinking about the bathroom. So far all the places we'd looked at only had one bathroom.   
"That's going to be hard, three people for one bathroom," Aya put in as we stopped at a roadside diner for a quick lunch before resuming our great housing search. So far between newspapers, two of them so far and an apartment booklet I'd picked up, we had seven more on our list. The thought of it was enough to make me sleepy.   


**Claudia**: 

I leafed through the paper more as we sipped sodas and had fries at the diner. For some reason, I found myself looking at pictures of houses as well as apartments.   
"Boy, I'd love to get a house like that once I get my art career established," I pointed to one picture of a house near one to the Great Lakes with a huge picture window on one side.   
"Wow, that's a nice one..." Liza murmured as she and Aya peered over. What about...I thought as I peered at a section of houses for rent. I noticed that some of the prices went as low as a thousand rentwise. With the three of us contributing around three hundred a month...   
"Hey, look at some of the prices on the houses for rent!" I held up the paper again. "If the three of us split the rent, we could do it!"   
"What?" Aya peered over.   
"We could rent a house with two bathrooms and each have our own rooms," I went on, growing excited by the idea. "Look at some of these; they go as low as a thousand a month. We could each pitch in about three-fifty a month." Liza pulled out her pad and Aya pulled out her calculator.   
"About three-twenty, maybe?" Aya mused.   
"My friend Christie would be able to figure this out in her head," Liza laughed. "She's super at math."   
"Stacey's the same way," I chuckled. I wondered how my friend Stacey McGill and Christie were doing. They both go to Aberdine U. in Vermont and had been at the top of their high school classes. Stacey's deciding whether to be an engineer or a doctor.   
"If we ask Louisa..." Aya put in.   
"Yeah, let's ask her!" Liza suggested, her brown eyes wide with excitement. "That way, it'd be split four ways. If the rent is about a thousand, we'd each be paying only two hundred and fifty a month! Then we'd really be able to save some real moo-lah!"   
"Good idea..." I nodded. Louisa's a good friend and the four of us get along really well. Plus if we lived in a house, we wouldn't be on top of each other the way I've heard some apartment roommates end up being.   
"So...let's go talk to her before we look further," Aya suggested as we got up to go. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

**Liza**: 

"Can we afford it?" My roommate Louisa sat on her bed and peered up at us uncertainly through her wire-rimmed glasses.   
"Yeah, if it's the four of us," Claudia told her. "We were looking at this..." she held out the paper and let Louisa leaf through it. "A lot of the prices of small four bedroom houses around here are just a little over a thousand."   
"They'll need references, won't they?" Louisa asked.   
"Yeah, they probably will," Aya nodded. "But all of us have some. You could list your boss at work." We all were talking on references to list. I know a lot of landlords want that...I guess to make sure their renters aren't shady, into drugs, or have criminal records or anything like that. I, for one, could list my dramatics instructor, Ms. Lanwin as well as my friends and some of their moms. Claudia put in that she'd gotten to know a lot of the parents she'd baby-sat for back in Stoneybrook, Connecticut as well as her friends and their folks.   
"We should write this all down..." I suggested and we did. I could tell Louisa liked our idea. Now if we could just find that house. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

We pulled ourselves out of bed early the next morning to continue our search. We had three weeks to zero hour from the dorm and two weeks before classes started again. This time I drove and we searched for several houses we'd circled. We'd called most of the places too. At one house, the landlord lived there and we gathered that she had a lot of ideas about how she wanted the renters to live, so we nixed that place and moved on. One thing we decided right there was that we didn't want a place where the landlord lived so they'd be breathing down our necks, telling us little stuff like *don't eat in the rooms* or that we couldn't use the bathroom after such and such an hour at night.   
"She kind of kept looking at us funny anyway..." I rolled my eyes. "I wonder if it was that purple streak in my hair."   
"Probably the fact that we're college students," Aya put in. It took until early afternoon, but finally, we found a place! One...it was just over a thousand dollars rent a month. Two...it had two bathrooms. Three...the landlord didn't live there; the owners were an easygoing couple who owned several houses and rented them to college students on a regular basis. And best of all, it was a four bedroom, so we'd each have our own rooms.   
"The Van Gogh dorm?" the wife of the couple asked.   
"Yeah..." We nodded.   
"Really too bad..." she murmured sympathetically as she handed us a copy of the lease to look over and sign. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Another ee on the evening of August 14, 2003: 

**Spiker@yahoo.com** to **Wmynpower@yahoo.com**, **Numbers@compuserve** (Christie), **Applyoosa@compuserve.com** (Dekeisha), **Sayitwithee@yahoo.com** (Whitney): 

_ WE DID IT!!! Claud, Aya, Louisa, and I found a place!! It's actually a house. I mean, we're renting it and splitting the rent four ways_. _No, we're not quite homeowners yet_..._oh, well, I can still dream. But get this_..._for just over a thousand bucks, we each pay only about two seventy-five a month, so it doesn't bust our budgets and we can still have extra money for occasional movies and good stuff like that and money to save, not to mention cash for airfare to fly out to visit you guys and my folks. It's a nice place, very airy and has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. We signed the lease late this afternoon and we move in another week! Ohhh, I'm so psyched!!!! Right now, Claudia's e-mailing her friends with the news too_._ As soon as I'm connected in my new home, I'll send all of you the snail mail address to the place. Talk later!_   
_Love, Liza_   
__   
  
  


More later! 


	3. Games Of Politics

**Into The Light**

_By_: CNJ 

_PG-13_

**3: Games of Politics**

**Liza**: 

"...Oh, that...yeah, I'm all right...we're settled in..." I told my mom over the phone late that afternoon the day we moved in. We'd just completed a full day of hauling stuff into the house. I paced a little between the living room and kitchen, which had a window with a nice view of the field and background trees. I noticed a few of the trees were already turning yellow and the green on the rest was getting pale. It's going to look beautiful in the fall, I realized.   
"So you all can afford it?" Mom asked.   
"Yeah, we made sure," I reassured Mom. I'd e-mailed my parents and brothers and sisters to tell them about my move last night. I hadn't wanted them to worry, so I didn't tell them about this move until we'd clinched the place. Boy, was I relieved and I knew the others were too. "Have pen and paper?" I asked.   
"Hold on..." I could hear Mom calling my thirteen-year-old sister, Alicia to see if she had a pen. She apparently did, because Mom came back on. "Okay, go ahead and shoot..." I slowly gave the number to her. "Thank you...I'll pass this on to the rest of the family." We chatted a little more about how the rest of the family was doing. My older sister, Brittany, who lives in New Haven, Connecticut and has a four-year old daughter, Marla, got promoted in her job as a paralegal. My younger brother, Todd, was leaving for college in two weeks, heading to Harrison U. in Baltimore, Maryland. Alicia's in eighth grade at Wakeman Middle School this year and is in the yearbook there. My older brother, Brian started a new job as the manager of a Home Builder store. He lives in Stamford. I told Mom about what else was going on around here and how Claudia and Aya were doing and that my Five R Us friends were doing all right as well. "...and Mom, the view from the kitchen is just fantastic," I finished.   
"That's good, honey, I'm so glad to hear that," Mom told me. "Hold on, Alicia wants to say hello..."   
"Hiii, Liza!" Alicia chirped.   
"Hi, Alicia..." I smiled. "How've you been? Looking forward to being the oldest in middle school?"   
"Yeah..." We talked a while longer. Hard to believe Alicia's a teenager now. Next year, she'll be a freshman at Burkeview High. I wondered if Mr. Brooke was still the principal there. Well, hopefully, Alicia won't have a bad time with any BIG clique there. Back when I was in high school, a BIG clique had dominated Burkeview High and I'm still ashamed to admit that I'd run around with that group for most of tenth grade. Finally, I wised up and found the courage to break away from them. Then in the fall of eleventh grade, there were a lot of new kids and someone from Claudia's high school, Stoneybrook High, spearheaded Operation Today's Good Youth, which involved thousands of kids writing to all the Northeastern newspapers to protest the negative image of today's teenagers. It worked and it also weakened the BIG clique. At the end of that year, the kids in that clique got into serious trouble at a baseball game at Stoneybrook High and blamed each other, so that broke up the clique for good.   
"Oh, I almost forgot to give you my new number and address!" I gasped. "Got something to write with?"   
"Yeah...fire away..." she told me. I gave her the number and address and told her to pass it on to the others. After I hung up, I let out my breath and surveyed the place. Of course, there were a million boxes and things scattered all over the place, but already it was beginning to feel like home here.   
"I think I'm really going to like it here," Claudia came downstairs and started going over the boxes to dig out her stuff.   
"Me too," I stooped beside her to dig out my things. We'd packed so fast that some of our stuff was mixed up, so our next task was digging out what was ours and taking it up to each of our rooms. Wow. My own room. In my own place, where I'd pay rent. This was terrific! I'd felt adult when I first moved here from my parents' home to campus. I'm here on a full scholarship, so I didn't have tuition to worry about. My main expenses were books, food, my part of the phone bill, an occasional movie or fun stuff, and rent. But now I really was an adult taking on responsibility for my bills and making my own home. What a great feeling it was! 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

**Claudia**: 

Good thing we had almost all of our stuff unpacked by the time classes started. The first day of classes was cool and crisp and had a definite feeling of early fall as I hiked up to the coffee house between classes to meet Aya for lunch. As I got there, I saw she was already there and waved. She waved me over and I joined her. I saw that she had a letter.   
"It's my friend, Iyra in Iraq," she told me, showing it to me. She seemed a bit preoccupied.   
"How is she?" I asked when we ordered a lunch.   
"Not sure..." Aya shrugged. "Her parents are arranging her marriage and want her to settle down with a neighbor. He's all right, but she doesn't really love him."   
"Wow, that's awful about her being arranged like that," I gasped. It's so amazing that they _still_ have arranged marriages in some countries in the Middle East.   
"It is," Aya nodded. "The women have little freedom there. Little say in what happens in their lives."   
"God, that's terrible. So, maybe she can somehow leave her parents' house?" I asked, then realized it was probably a lame question. In a lot of those countries, any woman being on their own is automatically suspect. It still was almost as bad as the Taliban regime that had recently been overthrown in Afghanistan.   
"No." Aya seemed to echo my thoughts. "Women don't have the freedom to travel and move out into their own homes over there, not the way we do in most of the world. It's part of why my family moved here when I was thirteen. It's still bad there." We were quiet as we ate, thinking over the situation in Iraq. God, how lucky we are. I couldn't imagine having to depend first on my parents, then a husband for a place to live. In the old days, the bad old days here in the States and in Europe, a lot of women did just that...moved from their parents' home into a husband's house, never really having their own home and never being self-supporting. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

**Liza**: 

I'm sure they have another auditorium to do the play in. But what was bothering me was that something weird seemed to be going on here at Granite U. and it wasn't just the recession. Was it because some of the people in the bursar's office reminded me of the current White House administration or was it my imagination? On Friday evening, Louisa and Aya didn't get back until after Claudia and I had eaten, so we made nachos and cheese and with sodas, watched a movie in the living room. Interestingly, we wound up watching _Primary Colors_. The main characters are sooo funny that we always end up cracking up when we watch it; John Travolta's character looks just like Bill Clinton. It's a riot.   
"Oh, hey did I tell you all that Katie's seen Hillary?" I asked.   
"I think you did," Louisa sipped her soda. "Did she ever get a chance to talk to her?"   
"Not yet," I ran a hand through my spiky dark hair.   
"Interesting and weird meeting somebody famous." Claudia put in. I nodded. I remembered Taffy Sinclair, who used to be in our class at Wakeman Middle before she flew off to Hollywood to be in a TV series. Since then, I'd seen her in a couple of movies and it was kind of odd seeing her and remembering knowing her personally as a classmate, then seeing her on-screen. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"Heard any more from Iyra?" I asked Aya the next week as we got ready for our Thursday morning classes.   
"Not yet," Aya ran a brush through her black curly hair. "I wrote to her and I hope she gets my letter."   
"I take it the mail's not very reliable there," I loaded my books into my backpack and hoisted it over my shoulder.   
"Not really," Aya told me as we left the house to head to campus. It's about a half mile away; in good weather, we walk. The weather was definitely getting a fall feel to it; here it gets cold as early as late September or early October and sometimes it snows in November. "I wish I could help Iyra come here maybe. Her parents are really conservative about this and don't let her travel alone. I guess in a way, I can't blame them since it's dangerous for women there."   
"But...nothing can really move forward if people give in to their fears," I put in. "I can see her folks might be afraid for her safety, but isn't that what keeps humanity from moving forward? It did take some risks for women here to shape things up."   
"True..." Aya nodded, seeming deep in thought.   
"I think maybe your friends could gather a group of women together and protest this unfair treatment. Maybe her parents will see the point. We could suggest that to her."   
"I can try," Aya sounded doubtful. "But it's not a democracy like most of the world."   
"Yeah, it is easier here for instance," I nodded. "But if you think back, the States wasn't always a democracy for everyone. Up until 1865, there was slavery and blacks couldn't vote. Neither could Native Americans. And up until 1920, women couldn't vote and they made up just over fifty percent of the population. It took a lot of risks, but a good band of them got together to overthrow the unfair policies. So, maybe the Iraqi women can band together and fight."   
"You have good ideas," Aya told me. "There are some groups gathering to fight for justice there, just like they did in Afghanistan. I guess Iraq just started, so we have a long way to go."   
"That's good. Do you think...?" An idea was forming in my head, although it sounded a bit outlandish, even to me. "Maybe we could pool our money and pay for her to come here?"   
"Possibly. But it's not just the money. It's the government officials and her family."   
"Wow, that stinks," I let out my breath. We got to campus and parted, waving goodbye and heading to our classes, Aya for her visual design class and me for my class on Asian art history class. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"We can go through the Hebrew Aid Society," I spoke in my role of Lorena Hickock, Eleanor's closest friend as we rehearsed for the play. This week, I got the part in the play as Lorena Hickock after all and we'd started rehearsing three times a week. It always felt so good being on stage. Once we were finished our rehearsal, the faculty of the drama department applauded and we bowed, but out of sync. Oh, well, when the big night is here, we'll have our bow down. The main thing was to get the lines and acting in order. Where were we rehearsing? The Lizbran arena which would be our auditorium for now. It was Friday afternoon and once we got ready to leave, the bathrooms were a regular madhouse. I was meeting Claudia, Aya, and Louisa for dinner tonight and maybe we'd stroll parts of Minneapolis tonight. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"Kristy e-mailed me this afternoon," Claudia told us as we drove up to Minneapolis a few hours later. The sun was setting and the air was chilly.   
"Yeah...how is she?" I asked.   
"Better than last year," she told me. "I think she and Mary Anne are just about healed from Uharu's death."   
"That's good," Louisa added. Last February, Claudia's friend Kristy's roommate, Uharu Jakarta died of a heart condition and Kristy took it really hard. Mona and Mary Anne had been close to Uharu also and had been crushed too. It had taken that entire spring for them to heal from that traumatic loss.   
"Another girl, who's a friend of theirs, Rowena is rooming with Kristy now," Claudia added. "Everybody calls her Ran and she has spiky black hair."   
"Like me?" I stroked my straight spiky dark brown bangs.   
"Yeah..." Claudia smiled. "Kristy says that Ran reminds her a little of Stacey in that she wears black a lot and grew up in New York City."   
"It's good that they're doing better," Aya put in.   
"Mona and Mary Anne are thinking of renting a house near Staten U. next year like us," Claudia went on.   
"I say they should go for it," I nodded. It's great when you can do it with good friends. I like having an all-woman household where we can socialize, borrow each others' brushes and tampaxes and have in-house sleepovers with other female friends. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"I got a letter from Iyra," Aya announced late the next morning at brunch. All of us were lounging in the kitchen Saturday morning, sipping tea and having the last of hash browns and sausage.   
"How is she?" Claudia asked.   
"I guess...getting by," Aya sat slowly and I could see that she was troubled by something in the letter.   
"Are her parents still arranging her marriage?" I asked.   
"Yes," Aya nodded. "They've set a tentative date for January. She really wanted to continue in school, but her parents discouraged her from going back this year. Anyway, the laws don't support higher education for females."   
"That is ridiculous," I fumed. "I say we need to get some way, somehow figure out a way to get her here to the States."   
"Why don't we write a government official?" Claudia asked.   
"Let's try the embassy, the Iraqi embassy," Louisa put in. "I bet they could give her political asylum or something. They do that with refugees all the time. She could flee the country and head to an American embassy someplace there. She'd be a refugee fleeing political oppression."   
"That'd be right," I added. "What's happening with the women there _is_ political oppression. The people there know that." I stood up and dug the yellow pages out from under the phone by the door and flipped it open. We pulled our chairs close and scanned through the pages; there were sooo many embassies.   
"There..." Aya pointed. "Iraq." I hastily wrote down the address of the place, the e-mail, and the number.   
"Should we call, ee, or write snail?" Claudia asked as we stood up and started loading our dishes in the sink.   
"I think we should write snail mail first," I washed my teacup and plate. "That way, we have something written. We need to keep a copy of each thing we send and put all of our signatures on there."   
"Do you think it'll really work?" Aya worried.   
"I hope so," I rinsed my dishes and started to dry them. "I think other countries realize the plight of the women there."   
"True." Claudia rinsed and dried her dishes.   
"So...what wants to do the actual writing of the letter?" Louisa asked.   
"Me," I volunteered. "Hey, maybe we could write to several different government agencies, the ones that deal with international affairs."   
"Good idea." Aya nodded.   
"I bet there're organizations helping out too," Louisa put in. "Isn't your friend Katie in NOW?"   
"Yeah!" I nodded. "Fantastic idea; I'll ee her. I bet with her being in Washington and politically active, she'll know of several organizations."   
"We can have some kind of fundraiser to raise money for her passage here," Claudia suggested.   
"I have the feeling that raising the money will be the easy part," I added. "Cutting through the red tape will be harder."   
"You have that right," Aya agreed. I had to get ready for work that afternoon and so did Louisa, so we headed off our separate ways.   
  
  


More later! 


	4. The Big Thief

**Into The Light**

_By_: CNJ 

_PG-13_

**4: The Big Thief**

**Claudia**: 

Sunday afternoon is my day to work at the art store. It's usually very quiet and sometimes during slow times and breaks, I meet fellow artist and we chat about various art projects we're working on. Right now, I'm on a project painting several three-dimensional layered paintings of various cityscapes. The best part about working here is that we get a thirty percent discount on everything here. This afternoon, I could hear a customer talking with another cashier. "...Think there is a lot of corruption in that bursar's office..." she was saying. "I started working there last winter. Ideally, their accountants are supposed to have access to all the financial records of the dealings of the buildings on this campus, but I get the feeling that some of the records aren't there. The other day I saw someone there storing something on a disk. I figured they were on a work break because some of us surf the net and all during our breaks, but when I walked by, she leaned forward and stared at me until I'd gone. At first I didn't think anything of it because I figured maybe she was writing a private e-mail. But later, I saw this person passing the disk to somebody in the lobby, somebody that doesn't work there..." Wow! I thought. Maybe there _is _something fishy going on around here! I realized. Could someone be embezzling money?   
"Hey, did you see anything else suspicious?" I asked suddenly.   
"Wha..." The woman, who looked about thirty, turned to me.   
"I...couldn't help overhearing your conversation...my friends and I used to live in the Van Gogh dorm...that closed down in August."   
"Oh, that's too bad," the bursar worker told me sympathetically. "You found another place?"   
"Yes, thank the sky above. We've been hearing about places on campus closing down. My friend, Liza is into acting and she was really upset when Vincente Art Hall closed down."   
"I haven't seen anything yet," the woman said. "Do you work here every Sunday?"   
"Almost," I nodded. "I'd really like to know if there's anything dishonest going on. My friends would too. If it's a matter of foul play here, this campus could be in trouble if the person...or people aren't stopped."   
"Yes, you're right. Well...I'm Burke and I'll be on the lookout for anything else suspicious. If I see anything more, I'll let you know."   
"I'm Claudia," I told her and we reached over and shook hands before she left.   
"God...embezzlement!" the other cashier, Bernice gasped. "I heard about Van Gogh Hall too. I live at Plath Hall and a lot of my dormmates are worried too."   
"I hope they dig up something fast for our sakes," I added. I had to tell my friends this the second we all got home. Maybe...if we heard anything, we could pass it on to Burke and we can gather evidence to turn in and catch the people responsible for this. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"She actually _saw_ it?!" Liza nearly fell out of her chair that night at dinner. All four of us were home and we were having seated at the kitchen table having tacos.   
"In a way..." I searched for an explanation. "She doesn't have proof, but she has a sneaking suspicion."   
"She should talk to the police about this," Aya put in.   
"Can't do it without proof," I finished off a third taco. "She's going to see if she can actually get hard evidence of this."   
"I hope so," Liza looked really worried. We were all quiet a minute, thinking about the events in the last few weeks. I remembered an essay I had to finish for Tuesday and a quiz on Thursday. "Have some good news, sort of..." Liza went on "I put together a rough draft of a letter to the Iraqi embassy..." She went into the living room briefly, then returned and moved her plate out of the way and put down the letter. We all leaned close to read it. It was pretty good. Very well written and convincing.   
"Good ending..." Aya nodded.   
"Thanks," Liza told us. "Oh, and excuse any typos; I still have to run the spell-check on it and double-check it in print."   
"I think we may have a shot at convincing them to let Iyra come here," Louisa put in.   
"I sent her a letter telling her what we're doing here," Aya explained. "If she can find somebody to keep her safe on the trip to the American Embassy there, she should be all right."   
"We hope..." all of us said simultaneously.   
"I have to e-mail Katie tonight and see if she can get in touch with the organizations there," Liza folded the letter.   
"I still need to write to the Political Asylum Institute," Louisa put in.   
"I'm seeing if I can e-mail Amnesty International," I said as we got up and started to wash our dishes. We then got ready for another school week. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

**_E-mails back and forth_**: 

**Date**: _October 2, 2003_:   
**Spiker@yahoo.com** to **Womynpower@juno.com**:   
_Hi, Katie! How's school going? Are the leaves changing in Washington yet? They sure are here! It's really pretty. Hey, I have a favor to ask...we're going to try to get Aya's friend Iyra, the one living in Iraq, here to the States. We know about the deplorable conditions the women are facing there and get this...they still have arranged marriages there. So, Iyra's parents are arranging her to marry this guy already (she's only nineteen!) and I get the feeling from what Aya's told me, she really doesn't want to marry the guy. I know you're active in NOW and they're keeping tabs on the situation there...so do you think NOW could get maybe political asylum for her? If you can check with them and get back to me, that'd be great! I know there's legal and international issues to get cleared up. Aya says the Iyra will try to flee Iraq. Thanks!_

_Love, Liza_

**Womynpower** to **Spiker**:   
_Hey, Liza! School's all right here. I'm taking three classes in law. The leaves are starting to change here, although there's still a lot of green around. The weather's gotten cooler; at least the heat is gone, but we haven't had any really cold days yet. Wow, Iyra's situation stinks! I've read about the plight of women there and it appalls me that not more people are protesting worldwide. Remember the plight of women in Afghanistan until recently? I'll see what I can find out about Iyra's possibilities through NOW. I'll also check out the legal avenues too; last year I took a class in international law; I'll check with Professor Geisworth on the laws between the States and Iraq. I hope Iyra can escape that awful situation and I wish her good luck. I'll let you know as soon as I find something. Talk later_. 

_Love, Katie_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

**Liza**: 

All of us, the cast of our upcoming play, which is a week before Thanksgiving, have been rehearsing more and this Thursday was no exception. As we sat around talking during our break, I casually asked if anyone was keeping track of Granite U's finances.   
"I heard the art center is really short of funds this year," Cyrana Gambini volunteered.   
"But isn't that what our tuitions are supposed to cover?" Bart Mintwood, who was playing the part of FDR, asked.   
"Some of it," Gayle Valway, who was playing Eleanor's daughter, hinted.   
"So I wonder..." I searched for words carefully. "Why are some of the places here closing down so suddenly? Isn't that a bit strange?"   
"Oh...yeah it is," Cyrana nodded. "Do you think something crooked is going on?"   
"I get the feeling..." I told them what Claudia had overheard in the art store the other day.   
"Wow...that's heavy," Bart let out his breath.   
"Scary to think of somebody _stealing_ from the college," Gayle put in.   
"From us students," Cyrana said indignantly. "Like some of those crooked politicians."   
"Don't forget the big thief in the White House," Francesca Sarroto put in and we all laughed.   
"But seriously..." I leaned forward and looked around to make sure that no one else was lurking around. The walls do sometimes have ears and all. "Think we need to scour around, all of us? Claudia, Aya, Louisa and I talked about it and we all are going to discreetly keep our eyes and ears open."   
"Can't hurt," Gayle twirled her necklace around. "But we should be subtle, that's the key. If whoever is guilty catches wind that we know what's going on, either they'll become sneakier or we could end up toast for their breakfast...or both."   
"Good idea..." I shuddered at the thought of anyone retaliating. We sat for a long minute, sipping sodas and thinking. Francesca passed around chips and we all dug in. Once we'd sat for a while, Cyrara stood up and announced, "Well, I'm ready to roll again. Is anyone else?"   
"I am..." I stood and so did everyone else. We rehearsed for another hour before going home. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

**_E-mails back and forth between Claudia, Kristy, Mona, and Mary Anne_**: 

**Visions@yahoo.com** (Claudia) to **Bizprez@aol.com** (Kristy), **Boox@yahoo.com** (Mary Anne), **Animalover@juno.com** (Mona):   
_Hi, you three! Remember my roommate, Aya, that I told you about who's from Iraq? I was thinking about a favor I need from you all, if you can. Aya has a friend in Iraq, Iyra, who's trying to escape an arranged marriage. You know about the awful conditions for women there. I was wondering since you all live in New York City, you know of any institutions like an Amnesty International or something like that there. If you have time and all, maybe you all could send me some info on them, please? Liza, Aya, Louisa, and I are gathering up info and writing to whoever can help Iyra escape her situation and maybe get here to the States. At least if she can get out of the Middle East, that'd be swell. Thanks, you all!_

_Love, Claudia_

**Bizprez@aol.com** to **Visions@yahoo.com**:   
_Wow. Iyra's situation does sound grave. I'll see what I can dig up. There should be something since New York is such a big city and let's not forget that the bulk of immigrants came through the New York Ellis Island at the turn of last century. Remember our trip there? God, I got such a lump in my throat when I saw my mom's name on that register of immigrants from Italy! And I'll never forget Mary Anne's tears for her great-great grandmother from Germany. Well, Mary Anne, Mona, and I will get our heads together for some serious huddling and figure out some good places to contact. If you want, we can add our appeals on Iyra's behalf. We'll see what we can do and keep you posted! Caio for now_. 

_Love, Kristy_

**Boox@yahoo.com** to **Visions@yahoo.com**:   
_Oh, Claudia, Iyra's situation just brings tears to my eyes! Of course, I'll see what I can do. Kristy, Mona, and I are already kicking ideas back and forth. Like Kristy said, we can add our appeals too. The more voices, the better. Remember Operation Today's Good Youth back in high school? How all of our voices got things moving? Hey, maybe of a lot of people helped women flee there, that would motivate the people of Iraq to overthrow their regime. There's really no need for a full-scale war there. Oh, I just shudder thinking about what girls and woman have to face! It's horrifying that blatant sexism still exists! Hey, listen, I was thinking about the United Nations, since we live so close to there. The U.N. deals with international issues all the time and this is bound to be one. I bet they get appeals often to help loved ones overseas. I'll get back to you the moment I find something. If you want, we'll add our letters. I'll be talking or ee-ing real soon!_

_Love, Mary Anne_

**Animalover@juno.com** to **Visions@yahoo.com**:   
_Kristy, Mary Anne, and I got back a little while ago from meeting in Kristy's place and we have a list of several places we're going to look up, the U.N. being one of them. So, it's looks like we'll start there. I just hope we can help Iyra in time. I hear once the girls are married off, it's very hard to annul that marriage and her husband can virtually hold her hostage. The situation is so awful! We're so lucky we don't live there. Imagine being pushed into marriage at such a young age. Like Kristy and Mary Anne said in their earlier e-mails, we'll see what we can dig up and I'll ee you as soon as we can. Gotta go...Mary Anne, Kristy, and I are headed out to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner_. 

_Love, Mona_   
  


More later! 


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